Battlestar Galactica Online Cylon Strike Craft Guide

Battlestar Galactica Online Cylon Strike Craft Guide (Raider/Heavy Raider) by Brock7142


Noticed there is one for Escorts, and Lines.

I’ve only played as a CYLON, so I’ll simply leave it towards the CYLON side of things, instead of going into the Colonial stuff, no idea if they are the same or not.

Raider: Primary fighter you’ll ever see on a Cylon relm. Very, very fast spacecraft. It’s perfect for running up on, and then unleashing everything you have on the poor Raptor that was in its way. They are very good at intercepting missiles, and jumping into the fight “unannounced”. I’ve been in several sorties where I may have been destroyed if another player wouldn’t have gotten to me fast enough to give that little “umph”. They also make amazing groups when it comes to “ganging up” on a target. But as far as armor, they seemed to take damage pretty easily. Larger groups of Raiders, the “fire for effect” they have. So far, I’ve never seen a player be dedicated missiles, or do any mining in a Raider. Nor have I ever seen a Raider with much focus on EW.

Heavy Raider: This thing is a freaking tank. Seriously, I personally play as a Heavy Raider, so far, even a Colonial Line Ship doesn’t have anything on them. (For some odd reason, the heavy cannons on line ships can’t even hit it… Same with regular Raiders) The most versatile craft so far I’ve seen, is the Heavy Raider. Equipped with a mining cannon, mining sensor, and two Autocannons, and a bunch of ammo, I’ve never had an issue taking out even advanced vipers. The Heavy Raider also has an assortment of EW capabilities, which have been touched on>>>> here <<<< Primary focus of the Heavy Raider is EW.

Weapons I’m sure others can add to. But regarding the Heavy Raider specifically, I’ve seen people have fully dedicated rocket Heavy Raiders, essentially just maxed on rocket launchers, and blast rocket after rocket. Others I’ve seen purely Light Autocannons, and others purely mining cannons (dedicated miners) I have also seen one that was dedicated long-range autocannons. And another that was two light autocannons, and one long range auto-cannon. Can’t comment much on Raiders, because I’ve only seen the typical player run-in guns blazing.

In groups, a Heavy Raider can help out a group of Raiders by giving Dradus contacts, sending the info, and letting the Raiders storm in numbers against the intended vict….. Uh… “Target”….

Othertimes, (and this is the most deadliest combo I’ve ever seen) you can have entire groups of pure Heavy Raiders, with each player specializing in either Full-Rocket, Full Long Range, Full Autocannons, or Full Minors or combos (as mentioned above).

Strategy
As a Raider, in tutorials, I just did the same as I do as a Heavy Raider, when you have that Viper Pilot who likes to use speed and run around all over the place, (including the advanced ones that are maxed out) decrease speed to 8 or 14 (even 22 if the dude is going “super fast) aim the cannons to the target, let them rip up the target, move on to the next. as a Raider, it’s not all that effective, namely because it doesn’t have as much armor as the Heavy Raider, but others who’re dedicated Raider Fans can explain more on this subject.

Escort Ships: Speed, speed, speed, run circiles around it even. Top and bottom are the juicy spots, if you’re fast, fly far down below the victim, turn around, go into a kamakazi run facing toward the escort ship, bail out last section, fly above, rinse and repeat. Escort will never hit you.

Line Ships: It’s too big, right? Wrong… Being a Raider vs a Heavy Raider, a Raider can get upclose faster, or in this case, above/below it. If you fly above or below a Colonial Line Ship (don’t know about Cylon Line ships, because I’ve never gone toe-to-toe with one) it can’t turn fast enough to aim the guns at you, and it can’t shoot you from above/blow anyway. Totally just free to demolish. More Raiders involved=faster destruction.

Groups mixed of Vipers/Raptors, Escorts, and Line Ships? Solution=Easy, take out the Raptors first (incase the player likes playing with EW stuff that gets annoying when it’s done against you) then focus on the vipers. Then the Escorts, and the Lines will pretty much be a joke. The Lines can unload volleys of firepower, but it’s pretty much nothing but scenary. So far, of the strike groups I’ve been in with mixed Line, Escort, and Strike Craft, Never once have I seen a Raider, or Heavy Raider get hit by a Line Ship. Even with close range weapons. Lines are good against other Lines and Escorts, but they really aren’t very good against Strike Craft. And the Escorts, have very limited capabilities of engaging you anyway.

As a Heavy Raider
So far, playing as a Heavy Raider, I’ve only been destroyed once, and that was because I jumped right into what I like to call a “Carrier Group” where it’s a mix of a bunch of Vipers, Raptors, Escort Ships, and Line Ships as a new player.

Best way to go about a “dogfight” in a Heavy Raider, cut to a low-medium speed, don’t worry about outmaneuvering that Advanced Mk2 Viper you see up ahead, instead, focus on firepower, and your armor. Unless you’re a dedicated Miner, then hit the jump drive, and get out LOL. If you have the chance, advance the turn rate of your Heavy Raider, then just keep the viper in range, and keep turning AHEAD of the Viper, and your rounds will always hit without issue, and just destroy each Viper one at a time. I’ve taken out a Group of, up to seven vipers in one “dog fight”. Nearly destroyed mind you, but in the end, the heavy armor of the Heavy Raider pulled through. (That, and the players liked to prefer doing barrel rolls and dips more than facing the guns to me and shooting)

Against Escort Ships: Their cannons suck, just putting that out there… Further you are, the less likely it is to hit you, or my fave, when you get the guy who thinks he’s flying a Viper, (in that case follow the same steps as you would to destroy the Viper) the Heavy Raider can outmanuever, and outspeed any Escort ship. Even the advanced ones. Granted the escort ships cannons are stronger, and pretty much punch your armor quite easily, it’s still lunchmeat against your Heavy Raider, stay as much as you can to either “Higher elevations” or “Lower elevations” compared to the Escort Ship. If the escort ship has missiles, shoot them. Those are the only “real threat” an Escort ship has against a Heavy Raider. Figure out what range the Escort ship started shooting you from, and if it was a long range, get in close. Fastest way to simply “get rid” of an Escort ship are missile volleys. I’ve seen a player destroy an Maul in two barrages of his missiles. Counter-Missile defenses have to recharge, and they recharge slower than the missiles being fired, remember that.

Against Line Ships: Easy peazy, you see a Line Ship by itself, laugh on how ignorant the player is. Boosters to max, get above or below the Line Ship, and just open up. The Line ship can’t shoot you (if it’s Colonial, don’t know about Cylon) and it’s just a matter of having enough ammo to destroy it, or if the LIneship doesn’t jump to a different system. If it’s by a mining ship however, it’s most likely trying to get resources to jump. In those cases, it’s free reign, and then you can just destroy the mine it’s guarding, too.

Against a Mix of Strike, Escort, and Line, Well, with the versatility of the Heavy Raider, if you can get yourself involved with a group of Heavy Raiders, with guys who’re commited to specific roles. Taking out Raptors, then Vipers, Then Escort Ships, and finally the Line Ships, it wont take long to clean them out.

Notes:

Only Colonial Vessels I’ve ever had any “real” issue destroying, whether by myself, or in a group of Heavy Raiders, are the Command Ships. Simply because they seem to have a longer EW range, and their cannons oddly seem to be much more accurate compared to the Heavy Assault type or Interceptor you’d typically see.

If you’re going to go into a dedicated mining configuration, always keep at least ONE Light Autocannon mounted to the front. That way you have some “real” defense. Always upgrade your weapons to level 2 before anything else on that ship. And if you’re a Dedicated Miner as a Heavy Raider, always upgrade dradus as much as possible. Knowing what’s out there, is what will keep you from being stormed by vipers and destroyed. Jump immediate if you see vipers coming towards you. (three or more)

If you’re a dedicated Rocket System as I like to call it, stay as far back as you can, but stay within at least 2/3s range of your missiles to your targets. Just unload the missiles as you see fit, and give priority to escort ships over vipers. Raptors over everything else. You can also make somewhat short work of a Line Ship if you have a couple more dedicated rocket systems. (other Heavy Raider Players dedicated as Rocketeers)

Sniper class, Heavy Raider with long-range cannons, keep one autocannon incase taht “one” get’s close to you. best way to go, is stick by the guy with all of the rockets. that way the rocketeer can focus on the escort and line ships, while you pick off any vipers coming too you.

EW guys, stick with the Sniper class, or the Rocketeer in the group. If non present, and you just have a bunch of Raiders with you, stay out of the fight unless you have TWO or more Autocannons. If you’re trying to be dedicated EW, avoid the dogfighting as much as possible, simply because you’re better off relaying on, and focusing on the EW role to make things harder on the group your guys are fighting against. “Painting targets” and slowing them down, and decreasing weapons etc. will have a greater impact than another “Gunner”. Also, as dedicated EW, you can pick out the Raptors from the Vipers. Which should be the Priority targets, and THEN the Vipers. Then work your way up any escort ships, and then the Line ships.

Combos: Play around as you please to find that “balance” you’re after.

RAPTORS, are the FIRST enemy craft you should target. Doesn’t matter if you have four Vipers coming down on you, destroy the Raptor!!! You don’t know what kind of EW that Raptor is doing, so destroy it. Or paint it for others to destroy. No matter what, DESTROY THE RAPTOR!